The Therapeutic Job
by Sapphire Smoke
Summary: Parker wants to talk to her counselor... Dr. Tanner. •Parker/Sophie•
1. Session 001

**Title:** The Therapeutic Job  
**Author:** Sapphire Smoke  
**Fandom:** Leverage  
**Rating:** M (for later)  
**Pairing:** Parker/Sophie   
**Setting:** During 'The 12 Step Job'  
**Summary:** Parker wants to talk to her counselor... Dr. Tanner.

**SESSION #001**

Posing as a councilor was having it's downsides for Sophie. For one, since she was 'hired' at Second Act, she was required as part of her job description to have one-on-one therapy sessions with each member in her group. Now that obviously was the last thing she wanted to do, but in order to keep her cover she had to suck it up and listen to everyone's problems and attempt to fix them. For two, playing therapist was starting to give her a migraine, especially after having to hear Marcy do nothing but bitch about how her mother is, well, a _bitch _for an entire hour in that dead monotonic voice that she uses.

She didn't know how some people can do this for a living.

So when it was Parker's turn to finally come in for her session, Sophie lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank god. Come on, let's get out of here for an hour," she says, standing up. She just needed to get out of this office –_ her_ office – right now. The plain white walls were starting to drive her insane herself.

"What? No, I thought it was my turn," Parker said, honestly confused. She looked at Sophie like she was almost disappointed, which made Sophie raise an eyebrow.

"Parker, you're not actually in rehab, you do know that, right?" Sophie asks, because it was starting to seem like Parker didn't actually get that. She was participating in groups, even asked for a pencil and paper to write down all the people she had to apologize to – and even to Sophie's dismay admitted to her that she had lifted her own wallet from her purse many times by 'accident', though made sure to tell her that she remembered to put it back each time.

She asked for forgiveness, which Sophie gave her just to make the whole awkward situation go away.

While acting the part was part of the con, the thing was… Parker didn't know how to act. This seemed entirely too real for her, and entirely too real for Sophie's level of comfort.

"But I need to talk about some things, and you're my councilor," Parker says, like Sophie should know that, and sits down in a chair. Sophie sighs. "You said talking about things is a way to work out our issues."

"Parker, we're in the middle of a_ con_," Sophie stresses, looking at her incredulously. "I'm not really you're therapist."

"I know you're not, Sophie. But Dr. Tanner is," Parker replied, like that should mean something that didn't sound insanely absurd in it's own right. "And I want to talk, please?"

"Oh for the love of Christ," Sophie mumbles, and sits back down. She couldn't believe Parker was doing this. But if Parker was set on trying to fix something in her life, who was she to stop her?

They both look at each other in silence for awhile, both expecting the other to talk. Finally Parker asks, "So how do we do this? I've never been in therapy."

Sophie wanted to put her head in her hands and scream, but controlled herself. She took a deep breath. This was ridiculous.

"You tell me about the things in your life that are bothering you, and we try to work through them," Sophie explains. Yeah, this was absolutely bloody maddening.

"Doctor-Patient rules apply right? The thing it says on that board out there?" Parker asks, pointing at the door, indicating outside. Sophie's patience was getting tested in a big way.

"Yes, sure. Fine. Nothing leaves this room," she replies, just wanting to get this over with.

"Okay," Parker says, and smiles a bit. She starts picking at her shirt and squishes her face to side a bit as she thinks about what she wants to say. Finally she starts and says, "I don't like being me sometimes."

That makes Sophie stop thinking for a moment about how much she wants to get out of there just by such a simple admission from Parker. "Why do you say that?" Sophie asked her, curious enough to actually sound like an actual therapist for a moment.

Parker shrugs and picks more at her clothing. "I'm not normal. I'm weird. I say things that I think are just supposed to be in my head, and that makes people look at me funny. I don't think the right way, I guess. Like, my thoughts are very fast and sometimes they jumble up, confusing me, which makes them not come out of my mouth right. And people don't like me because my brain is broken."

Sophie blinked, taken aback by what Parker just said. "Parker, there are a lot of people that like you," she tells her. Parker looks up at her.

"That's not what Dr. Tanner would say, that's what Sophie would say."

Sophie felt frustrated by that, and narrowed her eyes a bit. "Alright…" she said, playing along. "And how does that make you feel?" she half mocked the common phrase.

"Alone," Parker tells her simply. "But I know I'm not, and I know the people I work with kinda like me. A little, anyway. They tolerate me I guess. Except for one of them, he _really _likes me."

Sophie knew she was talking about Hardison and her own curiosity made her ask, "And how do you feel about him?" Because hell, if she was going to play therapist, she could at least get the gossip while she was at it.

"He's nice," Parker says and smiles a bit. "I like him a lot, but that's the problem."

"Why do you feel that's a problem?" Sophie asks. Okay, she was getting a bit more into this as it was going on, it at least was entertaining a bit, and informative.

"Because I really like him, but I don't think I… I mean I think I might be…" Parker stops, then looks at Sophie. "Shouldn't you be writing this down?"

"Oh, Parker," Sophie sighs heavily and rolls her eyes. "That's not necessary."

"Yes it is," Parker insists, and points to the pad on her desk. "That's what therapists _do._ They make lots of notes, and nod a lot while they do it. I see it in TV all the time."

Sophie let out a breath and tested her patience as she reached for the pad of paper and a pen, and started writing down little notes like "Thinks her brain doesn't work right" and "A coworker has a crush on her," just in case she actually had to prove she did it later.

"Don't forget I'm Rose in here," Parker tells her, watching her write. Sophie refrained from rolling her eyes and put "Rose" in the top right corner. Finally she put down the pen and looked at her.

"Continue," she tells her, and hopes that didn't sound as sarcastic as she meant it to.

"Where was I?" Parker asks, and Sophie tries not to scream. Really, this was bad.

"I don't know."

"I thought you were writing this down!" Parker exclaims.

"For the love hell, Parker. For the last time, this is not a real therapy session!" Sophie bursts out suddenly, her patience level dropping rapidly.

"But…" Parker starts softly, and Sophie thinks she might cry for a minute. She looks upset. Sophie starts to feel bad and revises.

"I'm sorry, Parker. If you really need this, then yes we can do it, okay? I'd be happy to help you." Sophie tried to sound as encouraging as she could, because honestly, she didn't want to be the one to help her. But if no one else was going to…

The soft spot she had for the girl was starting to take over her good sense, apparently.

"I think the woman I work with doesn't like me," Parker says, and Sophie actually does a face palm. This was crazy.

"Parker I do—" she tries to start, but is interrupted.

"I'm talking to Dr. Tanner, not Sophie!" Parker insists, and Sophie lets out a big sigh. This was not how she thought her day would go.

"Right, sorry," she says and takes a deep breath. Patience, Sophie. "And why do you think that?"

Parker shrugs, "She always acts like she doesn't want to be around me." Parker's face actually fell at that, and Sophie starts to feel really guilty.

But she stays in character. "Have you asked her about it?" Talking about herself as another person was completely insane.

"No."

"Why not?" Sophie asks her, now needing to know. She did like Parker, she did. Maybe she was a bit too crazy for her taste, but that didn't mean she didn't like her.

Parker looks down and picks at invisible lint before shrugging again and mumbling something inaudible. Sophie creases her brow and asks, "What was that?"

"I'm afraid she'll tell me that I'm right," Parker says again, a bit louder this time. Still not looking at her.

"Well you'll never know unless you ask," Sophie tells her, and waits for Parker to ask… but she doesn't. Instead she changes the topic.

"I've never gone on a date," Parker tells her, and Sophie's eyebrows raise. She didn't know exactly how that was relevant, but then again, she was talking to Parker. Relevance seemed to take a back seat to impulsivity.

"Ever?" Sophie asks, stunned.

Parker shakes her head. "Nope. Never had a boyfriend, either. Or… anything else. Is that weird?"

Sophie chose her words carefully. "Well… it's quite unusual for someone your age." She looked at her curiously. "Have you ever been asked?"

"Oh, loads of times," Parker tells her with a nod, which makes Sophie even more confused.

"Then why have you never gone on one?"

"I'm scared to," Parker admits. "I wouldn't act right, they'd know I wasn't normal and then it'd hurt. I mean, it hurts to be rejected, right? I don't know. That's what I hear."

Sophie blinks a bit, still finding this entire situation and conversation a bit bizarre. "It does hurt to be rejected," she tells her honestly, a bit too honestly in relation to her 'will I, won't I' relationship with Nate. "But if you don't run the risk of getting hurt, then you'll never experience the good stuff either."

"But is the good stuff really so good that it's worth the bad?" Parker asks her.

Sophie smiles a bit at her. "Yeah…" she tells her softly. "It really is." Parker just nods, and stays silent for awhile, so Sophie tries something. "Why don't you try that with the guy that likes you?"

"Oh, I can't," Parker tells her, looking up at her seriously now.

"Why not?"

"Because I think I might be gay," Parker says, which make's Sophie's eyes go wide. That was the last thing she was ever expecting. Sophie just stares at her for a little while, not speaking, so Parker asks, "Dr. Tanner?"

That snaps Sophie out of it. "Stop calling me that, please. And…" Sophie tries to think of an appropriate therapeutic response to that admittance and settles on, "Why do you think that?"

That probably wasn't the right one, but she wanted to know.

"I enjoy sex with women more than men," Parker tells her, like it should be obvious. But when Parker said she had never dated, Sophie had assumed…

"So you have had sex then?"

"Of course," Parker says, looking at Sophie like she was the one being ridiculous. "I love sex."

"But no dating?" Sophie asked. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around that concept. Sure, she understood sex with no attachments, but to _never _have any attachments? Ever?

"Nope, because like I said," Parker tells her. Then points to the piece of paper. "You should be writing."

Sophie blinks a bit and writes "Gay?" on her paper, just to show her she was doing something. She held it up for Parker to see to make her point, Parker smiled, glad she was playing along in this little game Sophie completely was suckered into.

"So… you're really gay then?" Sophie asks slowly, like she needed to make sure she didn't just make that up in her head for some reason.

Though if she did, then that would open up a whole bunch of other questions about her own sexuality that she's rather not get into.

"That's what I said, yes. That wasn't very therapist like," Parker chides at her lack of professional demeanor.

"Sorry," Sophie says, mostly sarcastically before revising. "So if you think you're gay, I'm wondering why it should even matter to you because you clearly don't seem interested in dating."

"No, I am!" Parker says, and sits up a bit straighter. "But I'm un-dateable."

"No one is un-dateable, Parker," Sophie tells her, looking at her pointedly. "Well, first things first anyway, are you interested in another woman?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't like me," Parker tells her, slouching back down in her chair again and crossing her arms over her chest.

"What makes you think that?"

"We just _had _this conversation," Parker tells her, like she was repeating something. But Sophie didn't know what exactly they were repeating, they never talked about this!

"No, we didn't."

"Yes we did. You asked me why I thought she didn't like me and I said because she acts like she doesn't want to be around me," Parker told her, looking annoyed now that she had to repeat herself. But Sophie didn't care about that; she only caught one thing out of what she just said. The main point:

Parker liked her.

She didn't know what to do about that. What even to _say_ to that, and Parker just said it so nonchalantly like she really was talking about a different person, and not the person sitting in front of her pretending to be her therapist. "Uh… look, Parker, that's sweet and all but I—"

She couldn't get it all out though, because Parker stopped her. "Talking to _Dr. Tanner_," she stresses. Sophie wants to scream. Again. She's been wanting to do that a lot the last twenty minutes of this torture.

"Well, since it seems like you think she might not like you, maybe you should try someone else," Sophie tells her, finally.

"But I want her, I can't just _switch it off_," Parker said, like she was being absurd.

This whole thing was bloody absurd.

"Well aiming your heart in the wrong direction can backfire on you," Sophie tells her. She was trying to be nice here, let her down softly. She liked her, but she didn't like her like _that._

"But you told me if I don't take a chance then I'll never know," Parker says, now confused. How Parker could be confused during this conversation, she didn't know. She was talking to her after all, wasn't she making it clear?

"Then ask her, right now," Sophie told her, just wanting to get this over with.

"I will when I see her," Parker says.

"I'm right _here,_ Parker!" Sophie exclaims, exasperated. This was insane!

"No, Dr. Tanner is."

"Parker! I _am_ Dr. Tanner! This is a bloody _con_, for shit's sake! And I _don't _like you like that, okay?!" Sophie bursts out, then regrets doing so the moment she sees Parker's face fall. Uh oh, maybe that wasn't the best way to tell her.

Parker looked down and nodded slowly as she was back to picking at her clothes. "Yeah, I know that. Why I didn't want to ask. I knew you'd be mean about it."

"Oh, Parker…" Sophie starts, feeling horrible now. She really should not have said it like that. "It's not that I don't care about you, I do. But I'm just… I'm not into women."

"Whatever," Parker mumbles. She looked really upset, and Sophie knew it was all her fault.

Sophie scooted her chair closer to her, putting her notebook and pen on the floor. Forget being a bloody therapist, she needed to be Sophie for a moment. She put her hand on the other girls leg and said softly, "Hey sweetie… look at me, okay?" Parker shook her head and Sophie prodded more, "Please?"

Parker looked up at her finally, and Sophie could swear her eyes were slightly misted over, though knew Parker would never admit to it. She rubbed her leg a bit in comfort and told her softly, "You are a very sweet girl, and any woman would be lucky to have you. Really. But I'm just… I'm not the one for you, okay?"

"How do you know that?" Parker asked her quietly, and Sophie felt a little tug at her heart.

"Because I'm not interested in women, and you're a woman, Parker."

"Have you ever been with one?" Parker asks her, still with the same soft voice that almost sounded sort of vulnerable.

"Well no, but I—"

"Then how do you know?" Parker asks her, her voice gaining more confidence now.

Sophie felt perplexed, bewildered, and all those other funny words. "I just… do," Sophie replied, but even heard how unsure she sounded when they came out. She didn't like women; she would have known that by now, right?

"Are you afraid to try it?" Parker asked her.

"What? No, of course not," Sophie said, almost defensively. She tried to take her hand away from Parker's leg but Parker covered it with her own, stilling her.

"Then try it." The way Parker said it almost sounded like a dare.

"Parker… you can't just manipulate me into bed with you, I'm the queen of manipulation, remember?" Sophie told her, though did have to give the girl props for trying.

"I wasn't trying to…" Parker starts, and takes her hand away from Sophie's. She looks actually offended. "Nevermind, forget it."

"What?" Sophie asks, wondering why she's acting that way.

"I didn't mean you have to sleep with me," Parker explained, still looking offended that Sophie would think that was what she was trying to do. "I didn't even mean you have to kiss me, just that I think you should at least try it with someone before you completely dismiss the idea."

"Oh," Sophie says, feeling a bit embarrassed at jumping to that conclusion. "Well… I will. I guess. One day." But she knew she was lying, and so did Parker.

"No you won't."

Sophie sighed, her shoulders dropping a bit in defeat. "No, probably not. I don't need to do that to know I'm not into women."

Parker doesn't say anything, she just leans back in her chair and lifts up her shirt a bit, exposing her stomach as she itches it lightly, right underneath her breasts. The movement was natural enough, and Sophie found nothing wrong in looking at her do it before Parker said, "But you just had your eyes roam the curves of my stomach."

"What?" Sophie says, snapping out of it. She did do that, but that didn't mean she was into women. She just thought Parker had a nice stomach. "So?"

Parker ran one of her hands through her hair, exposing her neck before saying, "And you just stared at the base of my neck."

"What? _So?"_ Sophie asked again, defensive all of a sudden because Parker was actually making her question herself, though she didn't know why.

"They're erogenous zones." Sophie blinked; not believing Parker knew that, so Parker explains. "I do read, you know."

"I didn't say you didn't," Sophie says, avoiding the actual topic.

"So you obviously have some attraction to me, if not to women in general," Parker tells her, and Sophie's eyes go wide.

"I do _not!"_

Yes, she realized how much she sounded like a seven year old with the tone she used.

Parker just shrugged and leaned back in her chair again casually. Sophie didn't like how confident Parker was suddenly getting, because she realized how unconfident it was making _her_.

"This session is over," Sophie says finally before standing up.

"I still have twenty five minutes," Parker points out, looking at her.

"Not anymore," Sophie says and walks back to her desk, gathering up her pad of paper and pen. She didn't like how uncomfortable she was right now. Even in her own skin. She was questioning herself now, and she didn't like that. She had no control over questions; she had control over answers.

Parker sat there for a moment before getting up slowly. She pulled her shirt back down all the way and walked over to the door, but stopped before she put her hand on the door handle. She turned around, "I'm sorry I made you feel weird, Sophie. I didn't mean to."

"Yeah… I know," Sophie says quietly, not looking at her. She was too busy trying to look involved in her paperwork, when really she couldn't see the words in front of her. They could be bloody Japanese for all she knew.

Parker was silent for a moment before deciding not to go. She took a step towards Sophie, but stopped right there. "You're going to not like me even more now, huh?"

"What? No," Sophie said, turning around then to face her. "No, Parker. That's not… I mean, we'll be fine. I promise."

Parker licked her lips nervously and shuffled her feet a bit before saying, "I like you because you can be anyone you want to be," Parker tells her, and Sophie looks surprised. "You didn't have to be Dr. Tanner for me, but you did, to help me. And you did… help me, I mean. So… thanks."

Sophie's heart was beating a million miles an hour, and she wished she knew why. "You're welcome," she says softly.

"You're also the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," Parker tells her, then has a shy smile. She shrugs and finishes, "But you probably know that." She purses her lips together before turning to leave, and Sophie was surprised to find herself stopping her.

"Parker," she calls out, and Parker stops. "Don't go. I mean… not yet, we still have twenty minutes left." It was her own way of telling her that it was okay, that she appreciated what she said, because she did. It made Sophie feel really good, and it even made her smile a little bit.

Parker smiled, but turned away and tried to hide it. When Parker turned around again to face Sophie she wasn't smiling as bit, but it was still hinting a bit at the corners of her lips. She sat back down in her chair without a word, and so did Sophie.

Cue awkward silence. Or at least it was awkward for Sophie.

"Well… um," Sophie starts, trying to get back into therapist mode. "Anything else you'd like to talk about this session?" It was the best she could come up with.

Parker shook her head. "I don't want to talk to Dr. Tanner anymore. I wanna talk to Sophie," she says.

"Oh," Sophie says, and looks down, feeling nervous all of a sudden. "About what?"

"What's your real last name?" Parker asks her, which make's Sophie head shoot up to look at her in surprised.

"How did you…?"

Parker just smirked. Sophie had to smile a little bit at that, and replied, "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Parker asks, sitting forward in her seat a bit, interested now.

"Because then I'd have to kill you," Sophie says, a smirk of her own playing at her lips now. Parker rolled her eyes.

"Seriously."

Sophie let out a breath and shrugged a bit before averting her eyes to the wall. "I don't know it," she says honestly. Parker looks confused.

"How can you not know your own last name?"

"My parents abandoned me, I don't know who I am really. I was raised by a woman from the church they left me at. I have her last name. She was French, but lived in London," Sophie told her, then looked back at her. "I shouldn't even be using this last name now, but I do just because Sophie isn't my real first name."

"Really? What is it?" Parker asks, looking intrigued.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Sophie deals, since all they all have ever known each other by is Sophie and Parker… and Parker wasn't her first name.

Parker made a face, but relented. "Margret."

Sophie thinks she choked trying to contain that laugh that still sneaked out. "Margret? Are you _serious?"_

"Yes! I don't like it, okay? Makes me sound _old_," Parker says, stressing the word.

"Why don't you go by Maggie or something?" Sophie asks, then has a flash of Nate's ex wife. Nevermind.

"Because I like Parker," Parker tells her. Then waves her hands at her. "You're turn."

Sophie sighed a bit, then admitted: "Jennifer."

Parker studied her for a minute, tilting her head a bit to the side as if analyzing something, then voiced, "You don't look like a Jennifer."

"Hence, Sophie. Much more sophisticated," Sophie told her.

"Yeah, it is," Parker agreed. "I like you better as a Sophie."

"Well I like you better as a Parker," Sophie told her, then smiled.

Parker looked down, biting her lower lip as if trying to contain her own smile that was threatening to peak out. Sophie doesn't think she had ever seen Parker even close to the word shy – but here it was in front of her. She had to admit, it was kind of cute.

Not that that would change her opinion on the matter of women. But she was kind of flattered that Parker liked her, she couldn't deny that. It was… sweet. A little weird, but sweet.

Parker looked like she was about to say something when there was a knock on the door and a hushed call to "Sophie!" from the other side. Both women looked at the door, and Sophie sighed. Getting up, she opened the door and Nate came inside, but not before looking at the two women strangely.

But he shook his head, it really didn't matter why Parker was trying to get therapy. He looked at Sophie and told her, "Eliot and Hardison just called, Hurley's pissed off a lot of people in very high dangerous places."

"What?" Sophie asked. "Like who?"

"Like Korean and Mexican gangs. Come on, they'll be here in a minute," Nate said, then wrapped his arms around himself and shivered.

"Are you okay?" Sophie asked him, but gave him a knowing look.

"I'm fine, I'm fine… let's just get this over with," Nate said before turning and walking out the door. Sophie sighed after looking at him walk away a little before turning back to Parker, only to realize she wasn't even in the room anymore.

Damn, how does she _do_ that?

**TBC…**


	2. Session 002

**SESSION #002**

"Look at this!"

Sophie looked up just in time to see a bottle of pills being thrown in her direction, and if she didn't catch it in time, it probably would have hit her straight in the face.

"Look at what they're trying to do to me!" Parker exclaimed after bursting into Sophie's office, making erratic hand gestures. "They're trying to poison me!"

Sophie blinked at her a couple times, before looking down at the bottle in her hands. Anti-depressants. Sophie couldn't help but smirk. "Parker, close the door," she told her, and Parker closed the door, but not before folding her arms over her chest. "They're not trying to poison you, they're just pills to make you happier. Don't worry; they probably won't even start affecting you before we're out of here and you can stop taking them. So just relax."

"They're_ poison_," Parker stresses, then starts doing the weird hand movements again to indicate her, head or at least that's what it looked like to Sophie. "They're trying to poison the bad parts in here so they die and the rest of my brain can work right."

Sophie blinks again. What was she supposed to say to that?

"You're being paranoid."

"I am _not_ paranoid!" Parker exclaims loudly, actually offended. Maybe that was the wrong thing to say.

"Alright, alright. Sit down, for the love of God. Just sit. Please," Sophie says, pointing to the chair. Parker practically stomps over to the chair and sits, but not before starting to yell at her.

"Can't you stop it? You're my therapist! Tell them I don't need drugs!"

"Parker, I'm posing as a_ psychologist_, I am not, nor am I even _posing_ as a psychiatrist," Sophie told her, trying to be perfectly clear.

"What's the difference?" Parker asks, confused.

"One prescribes drugs, the other doesn't," Sophie tells her.

"Which one are you?"

"The one that doesn't!" Sophie exclaims, annoyed now. She leans back in her chair and looks at her. "Are you here for a reason? I mean one other than this?"

"Oh, yeah, right," Parker says, remembering. Then she says all too casually, "Nate's vomiting blood in the toilet near my room, it's gross."

"What?!" Sophie exclaims, sitting up now. She goes to stand up, worried now. She knew he was having withdrawal symptoms, but violent vomiting is never a good sign. Part of her was regretting doing this con, but at the same time, she knew Nate needed to have his eyes opened.

"Oh don't bother," Parker tells her in an airy voice on nonchalance as Sophie heads for the door. "They already have three man-nurse people with him. You'll just crowd up the bathroom. Plus, I think he already passed out on the toilet seat anyway."

"_Orderlies_," Sophie corrects, and looks out the door. Sure enough, two men were picking Nate up and carrying him into his room. Sophie sighed and rubbed her temples. First he tries to go over the wall, now this?

Sophie turns back into the room and closes the door behind her, sighing heavily again before she looks at Parker. "Anything else?" she asks in a dreary voice. It had been a long day.

"My session starts in five minutes," Parker told her seriously.

"Oh not this again," Sophie mumbles before flopping down on the patient couch instead of her chair. She covers her face in her hands, and Parker looks confused.

"Are we going to do a role reversal? Do I get to be the therapist this time?" Parker asks curiously. Sophie's about to scream. She already has a headache, and delving into the depths of Parker's mind is a task and a half as it is, plus Parker apparently has a crush on her, which in Sophie was to be honest she thinks is the only real reason why she's here… but then she has an idea.

"Sure," she tells her, taking her hands off her face and looking at her. "Sure, you can be the therapist this time."

This way, she can just relax. She likes to talk about herself anyway, and it wouldn't be half as stressful. She stretches out on couch, getting comfortable, and looks at Parker. Parker stares back, before getting up, getting Sophie's pen and paper, and taking her fake glasses – putting them _on_ – and clears her throat. Sophie almost laughed, but suppressed it. Parker was being so serious about this. She sat back down.

"So," Parker starts, fiddling with the glasses absentmindedly which makes Sophie emit a little giggle. "Tell me about your childhood."

"Happy," Sophie states.

"That's it?" Parker asks, peering over the rim of the glasses before scribbling more on the piece of paper than just that one word.

"Not much to tell," Sophie tells her honestly. "I'm sane, this won't be too interesting."

Parker actually lets out a "HA!" at that, which makes Sophie give her a dirty look. "Everyone's a little crazy," Parker tells her, and writes more.

"Maybe to you," Sophie says, actually offended. She wasn't crazy!

"Mhm…" Parker says distracted as she writes like a freaking book. Sophie just blinks at her.

"What could you possibly be writing so much about?" she asks, sitting up on the couch, curious. She tries to peer at the notebook, but Parker clutches it to her chest.

"You don't get to read the therapist's notes," Parker chides her, before scooting back a bit and turning the notebook to an angle where Sophie couldn't see. Sophie sighs and lays back down.

"Fine."

"Tell me about Nate," Parker says, without looking up at her. Sophie rolls her eyes.

"He's a drunk, he's my boss, and we've known each other for ten years," Sophie tells her simply. She wasn't going to get into that with Parker. No way.

"And you're in love with him," Parker tells (not asks, but _tells_) her, still writing.

"What? No, I'm not!" Sophie exclaims, lying through her teeth. "I just fancy him."

"What does that even _mean _anyway?" Parker asks, finally looking at her. "Why do British people use all these weird words? Doesn't fancy mean, like… nice? Like fancy clothing?"

"Oh don't get on about how to talk," Sophie tells her, narrowing her eyes. Parker just shrugs and continues scribbling on the paper.

Sophie really wanted to know what she was writing.

"And you've never been with a woman before," Parker says, like it's supposed to be a natural question and like Sophie wasn't supposed to know her meaning behind it.

"_Parker,"_ Sophie warns gently. She didn't want to get into this again.

"Alright, alright," Parker says, making a face. "Jeez, just trying to ask questions here."

Sophie tried to contain her smile. Even though she was a it annoyed that it seemed like Parker was a bit pushy with it, she couldn't help but feel flattered and think it's a bit cute that Parker liked her. I mean, who didn't feel even a little flattered when someone had a crush on them?

"It's okay," Sophie tells her. "I'm just… you know how I feel about that. It's not going to change."

"Yup," Parker replied, but it seemed more like telling her what she wanted to hear. She continued writing in the notebook.

"I mean it," Sophie says.

"Yeah yeah, sure," Parker says, in that airy little voice she keeps using like she doesn't believe her.

"Bisexuality doesn't just pop up after forty years," Sophie continues, still trying to make her point, or maybe even defend herself.

"Nope, not at all," Parker says. That tone… Sophie wanted to make that tone illegal. It was driving her insane.

"You do get that, right?" Sophie asks, because it didn't seem like she did. Hell, Sophie knows that she doesn't.

"Oh yeah, totally," Parker agrees, nodding her head a bit as if to emphasize it, but it still doesn't sound like she does. Sophie just narrows her eyes and doesn't say anything for a bit.

"And you're okay with that?" Sophie presses finally, peering at her.

"Whatever you want to think is okay with me," Parker tells her, still writing and half ignoring her, which makes Sophie's eyes go wide. She knew Parker didn't believe her!

"Parker!" she exclaims.

"What?" Parker asks, attempting to look innocent. She finally looks up from writing.

Sophie's frustrated, and wants to yell but doesn't exactly want to yell about that since she might hurt Parker's feelings, so instead chooses to yell, "What the bloody hell do you keep writing?!"

Parker just blinks at her, before throwing her the notebook. Sophie catches it, looking down at a page filled with words. What could she have possibly wrote? She glanced up at Parker for a minute, catching her eye before she looked back down at the page. Starting at the top she started to read:

"_It's gonna really start to bug you that I'm writing so much. You're really curious, and hate not knowing things so it's gonna make you mad, isn't it? I bet you're gonna yell at me to give this to you, or steal it later just so you can see what I wrote. I bet you're getting mad now that it's all nothing, and that I pissed you off for no reason, right? But you're kind of sexy when you're mad, so that's my fault. I like seeing it."_

Sophie blushes a bit at that, and her eyes flicker up to Parker, who is sitting there looking at her with her expression eerily unchanged for knowing what's in the notebook.

"_I bet you're gonna look at me now after you read that, or you're gonna blush or something. Am I right? See, now you're gonna get creeped out, so sorry about that ahead of time. I just like watching how you act when stuff happens because that's how I learn, and I like getting you all grr-like cause it's hot and kind of funny. You're mad at me now, aren't you? Whoops."_

Sophie wasn't mad though, she was more… intrigued. Though the fact that Parker knew her reactions so well was a bit creepy, but yet at the same time a proud moment for her because she was trying to teach her how to spot those things after all. She continued to read without looking back up at Parker because she was sure her cheeks were burning red because of how she would keep calling her 'hot' and 'sexy' in the notes.

"_And you're gonna get mad when you find out this isn't even time for our session, and that I just pretended it was so I could be in a room with just you. Maybe you should have checked before believing me. _

_You're really pretty, I like looking at you. And I like your voice, it's like a song… only it's not. It's complicated; don't ask me to explain it. I'll get confused. You look really pretty in that dress by the way, though I don't know how you can walk in those heels. Last time I tried I fell. Not in your heels, obviously. Mine. Well, ones I stole. Anyway. So I wanna do something but I don't think you'll let me, but you told me that asking is how you find out so I wanted to know if…"_

And then there was nothing else: that was when Sophie interrupted her. She blinked down at the note for a moment, holding it in her hands, her cheeks still hot a bit before she finally got the courage to look Parker in the eyes. Parker just stared back at her, like it was nothing. Like all that was just… natural.

"What…?" Sophie started to say, then cleared her throat before it came out a bit strangled. "What did you want to ask me?" Sophie finally asks quietly. She was feeling… a bit odd. She couldn't describe it.

"I was wondering if you'd let me touch you," Parker says simply, which makes Sophie's eyes go wide, then Parker's once she realized how that sounded. "No! Not like that, I mean like your face and your hair and… stuff. Not private stuff. Normal stuff," Parker revises, trying to explain. But Sophie still didn't get it.

"Why?" Sophie asks. She got that she wasn't asking for something sexual, but she didn't know exactly why she wanted to do… that either.

"Because I've thought about it a lot," Parker says, which makes Sophie cock an eyebrow at her. That's an odd thing to think about.

"Uh," Sophie starts, shifting a bit on the couch before shrugging lightly. "I guess it couldn't hurt." But then she looks at her seriously and points out, "But that doesn't mean… _anything_, okay?"

"I know," Parker says, and smiles in a way that makes Sophie instinctively have to smile back, and she gets up and comes over to Sophie on the couch, sitting next to her. She takes off the fake glasses, setting them down next to her before she moves her hand slowly.

Sophie has no idea what exactly her plan is and what it's supposed to achieve, but she tenses nonetheless, being nervous for some reason. Maybe just because of how Parker felt about her.

But Parker just touched her cheek lightly, dragging her fingertips down over her jaw line slowly before brushing a piece of hair out of Sophie's eyes. She's smiling, looking at her in almost a childlike fascination, and that weird feeling came back that Sophie keeps randomly experiencing lately. But Parker doesn't notice any change in Sophie, just kind of plays with her hair a bit, sliding it between her fingers and twirling it around. She's looking at it, not at Sophie's face, giving Sophie the freedom to watch Parker, almost as if in fascination herself.

She had never seen anyone do this before. She was acting as if Sophie was some precious, amazing thing that just needed to be touched, needed to be delicate with.

Then Parker's fingertips are running across her cheek again, her eyes following her fingers. When she gets to Sophie's lips, Sophie closes her eyes momentarily as Parker traces them like someone would if they were drawing a picture. When she opens her eyes, Parker's hand has fallen down to Sophie's as she starts tracing over each knuckle carefully. Sophie lifts up her hand a bit for her, just staring at Parker as she acted almost like a child, like she was seeing something wonderful for the first time. Parker's hand follows Sophie's as she raises it, and then Parker's running all five of her fingertips down Sophie's lightly, before lacing their fingers together. It was Sophie who closed her hand around Parker's, just watching her. Parker smiled really big, looking at their hands.

"You're like if a painting came to life," Parker tells her, but still doesn't look at her. She's wiggling her hand softly out of Sophie's grip, so Sophie lets go so Parker can trace her fingertips over the palm of her hand, and then down her arm. She started even tracing the tiny moles and freckles Sophie had on her arm. "Like every detail was worked on carefully, to make it perfect, you know?"

Sophie blushed deep at that. If she wasn't mistaken, Parker just gave her the biggest compliment anyone has ever given her, and Parker didn't even notice. She just said it because it's what she thinks. Sophie doesn't know what to say, but that's alright because while Parker touches each mole softly before starting to play something that might be connect the dots, she goes on.

"Like this," she tells her, and plays connect the dots on her skin. "That's in the sky. I can't remember where, but I've seen it."

"There's a constellation on my skin?" Sophie asks quietly, barely above a whisper. She doesn't know why, but she can't really talk at the moment.

Probably because she didn't want to screw up the moment… for whatever it was. She didn't want to analyze it; it was just nice.

"Yeah, with the stars, see?" Parker says, and traces it again, but Sophie can't tell which one she's trying to tell her it is. Sophie nods anyway, really not wanting to speak, or analyze what it is, or argue whether it's even there. She just wants Parker to keep talking.

Parker doesn't say anything for a bit though, she just runs her finger tips down her arm and then presses her hand against Sophie's – palm to palm – and just looks at the size difference. It was slight, but it was there, Sophie's was just a tiny bit bigger than hers.

Parker giggles a bit as she looks at their hands. "We look like a cow tail."

"A what?" Sophie asks softly, looking at her confused, then back down at their hands. How did their hands look like something that should be hanging from a cows rear end?

"The candy," Parker explains, looking at their hands together. "Kind of, anyway. See? Look," she says, then uses her other hand to trace one of Sophie's fingers. "This is the caramel-y part, or whatever it is. It tastes good, I don't know. And then this," she traces her own finger. "Is the white stuff they put in the middle of them. They taste good too. I don't know what they are either."

"We look like candy to you?" Sophie asks her with a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. She couldn't help it, what Parker said was cute.

"Mhm," Parker says and nods, then laces their fingers together. Sophie holds her hand and lets it fall to her lap, and then finally Parker looks at her face.

"You're pretty," she tells her.

"You're pretty too," Sophie says with a little smile. She then chews on her bottom lip and looks down before taking a breath. This was a little weird for her. Parker was making her feel something. She didn't know what, but there was definitely a something… somewhere.

Sophie clears her throat, she doesn't know what else to do. They're still holding hands and she doesn't know if she wants her to let go.

She's getting a bit confused.

"Um…" Sophie starts, but Parker interrupts.

"I'm making you feel weird now," she says, like she knows. Sophie just nods a bit so Parker lets go of her hand. "Sorry."

"No, no… it's not…" Sophie starts, looking down before tucking her hair back behind her ear. She looks back up at her. "That was really sweet… it was. That was… probably one of the sweetest moments I've ever had in my life but I'm just… I don't think I…"

"Like me like that," Parker finishes. "I know."

"I'm sorry," Sophie says, feeling awful for some reason.

Parker just shrugs lightly, "It's okay. I know you can't ever like me."

Sophie looks at her, her eyebrows furrowed and asks, "What do you think that?" Because it sounded like it was something other than the whole girl/girl aspect of it.

"I'm crazy," Parker tells her, then smiles a bit at her, but it's not happy. More upset trying to seem okay.

"You're not crazy," Sophie tells her, putting a hand on her leg to comfort her, and Parker put her hand over Sophie's. "You're not, okay? Don't let anyone tell you that."

"You don't know me," Parker tells her bluntly, but softly. Sophie holds her hand again, just needing to comfort her a bit.

"No, maybe not. But I know what I've seen," Sophie tells her seriously. "And you don't act crazy."

"Whatever," Parker mumbles, and looks down at her sneakers.

"Hey," Sophie says quietly before putting a finger under her chin, tipping it up a bit so she could look at her. "I mean it."

They were close to each other, really close in fact, and Sophie saw just for a moment Parker's eyes look at her lips. But then she was looking her in the eyes again, and Sophie convinced herself she was imagining it, yet her heart started to pound a bit in her chest.

"Okay…" Parker says softly, and then licks her bottom lip a bit self consciously, and Sophie caught herself staring at them.

This isn't good.

They're both quiet for a moment, maybe a little longer for a moment. Sophie's hand has only moved just slightly, resting it on Parker's cheek instead of her chin. She knows she should put it down, but it would just seem so awkward if she did. Like she was trying to get away from something that couldn't be there, and that there was nothing wrong with what she was doing… so she just left it there.

"Do you really think I look like a painting?" Sophie whispers, her thumb stroking Parker's cheek like it has a mind of it's own.

Parker smiles lightly then nods a bit, just once, before saying softly, "Yeah… I do." A pause, and Parker got a little closer to her, or maybe it was Sophie that got a little closer to her. She's not sure. "Like one in a museum, the big expensive ones that are heavily guarded," Parker finishes.

That makes Sophie smile big and she looks down, almost shy. But when she brings her head back up to look at her, somehow their lips almost touched. Sophie wants to jump back, but stays where she is only because she didn't want to make Parker feel like she was freaked out by her. She wasn't. She needed to prove that… or something.

Where the hell was this logic even coming from?

Parker's breathing had picked up, and Sophie noticed it right off the bat only due to finally noticing hers had to. She could feel Parker's on her lips, and she licked them because she was sure they were starting to get dry from being so insanely nervous about… something.

Parker moves in a bit, but then stops herself right before brushing her lips against the grifter's, and she closes her eyes, like she was trying to control herself. But it wasn't that that surprised her, it was that right after she did that, Sophie _did_ brush her lips against Parker's. Just lightly, but it happened.

Sophie didn't even know she had done it until after it had already been done.

But that made Parker do it to her, and Sophie closed her eyes. Her walls were breaking, whatever walls she bad put up there, and she mutters under her breath, "Shit." Just softly, she didn't even know if Parker could hear her. It was more to herself, and more in defeat, right before she pressed her lips fully against Parker's.

She has no idea why she just did that. She blames… the moment. Right. Just a really good… moment.

Parker parts her lips automatically, letting Sophie do the same before sliding her tongue into the brunette's mouth. Sophie heard herself moan softly at the contact, and the grip Parker had on her hand tightened. They kissed softly, tentatively, for almost a whole minute. Like testing something… like both of them were scared.

And then it was over, and Parker looks scared because she thinks Sophie's going to yell at her, and Sophie looks scared because she just kissed a woman and enjoyed it.

They both looked at each other, waiting for the other one to speak… but neither of them did.

Probably a good five whole minutes had passed until Sophie cleared her throat, looked down, letting go of Parker's hand and said, "Okay then… so…"

She didn't know what she was going to say, she just needed to stop the silence.

"Yeah…" Parker says, also not knowing what to say. She looks down at her own shoes again.

"That happened?" Sophie asks, not looking at her, but needing to confirm it.

"I think so," Parker says, like she's confused for a minute. But then she nods her head after looking like she had to replay it, and says, "Yeah."

"Right," Sophie said and bit her bottom lip. This could potentially be… bad. Or maybe good, but she was sure it was more bad than good, though didn't know why.

"Yeah," Parker says again, then blinks a bit before getting up. Sophie looked up at her finally. "I'm gonna…" Parker says, and points to the door. Leaving.

"Okay," Sophie says, not knowing what else to say. She didn't know how to make the weirdness stop, and she couldn't think straight while Parker was in the room.

"Okay," Parker says, and turns around to leave. But when she gets to the door she doesn't turn back, just requests softly, "Please don't hate me."

"Parker…" Sophie says, and gets up. She doesn't move towards her though, just tells her honestly. "I don't think I could ever hate you…"

Parker looks back at her before her hand found the doorknob, and then she was out the door, gone, closing the door behind her. Sophie sat back down on the couch heavily, shaking her head a bit to see if this was really reality.

How did that just happen?

**TBC… **


	3. Session 003

**SESSION #003**

Sophie was angry with Nate that he had just left here there in the rehabilitation center. They had been gone for almost two days, and Parker was there alone. So it was Sophie who went and got her, finding the girl in front of her to not… be the one that she left there. She was happy, giddy even, like an effect of the medication that didn't yet have time to get it's self into her blood stream. She jumped on Eliot, wrapped her arms around Hardison… and didn't even look at Sophie.

Sophie doesn't know why that hurt as much as it did.

She insisted that she was the one to take Parker home, even though Hardison tried to fight her for it. But she was firm on the matter, just because she wanted to know what the hell was going on with her.

Those pills should not have affected her that quickly. They just shouldn't have.

Parker was tracing patterns on her car window the whole way there, almost humming to herself as she smiled. Sophie didn't say anything, just kept stealing little glances at her every now and then. Parker would barely acknowledge her, and it wasn't… it just wasn't right. Not after everything that happened.

Not after they kissed.

Sophie still isn't sure what to make of that. She doesn't like to think about it, because it keeps drawing conclusions she doesn't like. But for Parker… shouldn't she be happy? Well, she is, clearly… but shouldn't she be happy with her, and not ignoring her presence? It's like she was invisible to her.

It drove Sophie mad.

When they got to Parker's apartment, Parker pretty much floated into the room, still not noticing that Sophie followed her in, or even that she was there in the first place. Sophie clicked the door closed and watched as Parker spun around in a circle before collapsing on her couch.

"Parker?" Sophie asked quietly, looking at her. She was beginning to get a theory, and she didn't like it.

"Look at _that!"_ Parker exclaimed, pointing to the ceiling. Sophie looked up; there was nothing there.

"Parker, sweetie…" Sophie started gently, coming closer to her. She didn't want to startle her or anything; she wasn't exactly sure what was going on in Parker's brain in the moment. "Are you… what did you do with those pills?"

"Gone," Parker says, still staring at the ceiling and pointing. "Look Sophie! Watch it move!"

There was nothing moving.

"Parker..." Sophie said, feeling a bit scared now. "Parker, how many of those pills did you take?"

"Um…" Parker says, and squishes her face a bit as she thinks. Then she shrugs. "The whole bottle over… how many days has it been? One or a million?"

Three. Three days since she's had them. Since she stole the pill bottle she most definitely was not supposed to have. Three days to finish thirty pills. Oh god.

"Parker, sit up, now," Sophie tells her, but Parker doesn't move so Sophie goes over to her and takes her hands, having to pull her up to a sitting position. "Parker, Parker! Look at me." She takes Parker's face in her hands and moves it towards her so their eyes can connect. "How many did you take _today?"_

Parker blinked, as if focusing on Sophie was confusing her. Her eyes crossed a bit, and Sophie slapped her cheek lightly to get her to focus, "Parker!"

"Ow," Parker complains.

"Parker, today… _think._ How many did you take today?" Sophie presses, wondering if she's about to have to induce Parker vomiting.

"I dunno, like… er…" Parker thinks and starts waving her fingers around as if counting, but if she was doing that she would have counted to about fifty. "Sixteen. No, Nineteen. No! Fifteen, yeah… sixteen," Parker said, making no sense. Sophie swore.

"Alright, get up," she told her and started pulling her to her feet.

"What? No. Why?" Parker asked, and stumbled a bit. Sophie caught her with her arm around her waist.

"Because they're not about to stay in you," Sophie tells her, and Parker protests, trying to plant her feet on the ground but being so fucked up that it doesn't work very well.

"No! I like them! Look! Oh my god… _look_," Parker says, pointing to nothing. "Oh my god, it has _wings…"_

"Yeah, okay, come on, seriously," Sophie said, getting scared. Welbutrin, the medication she was prescribed, if taken in high enough doses causes hallucinations, loss of muscle control, and can cause death. It's time released, so she's just going to get worse. She's already hitting one and a half out of three. Sophie wasn't about to let three happen.

"No, Sophie! I won't let you!" Parker cries, and pushes herself off of Sophie… and falls on the floor. "I think my legs are gone!" Parker yells, freaked out now. They didn't seem to want to hold her anymore.

"Parker, I'm gonna pick you up. PARKER! Please! Listen to me, okay?" Sophie cried, almost desperately as she tried to pick her up, but Parker just kept swatting her hands away. "Do you want to die?!" Sophie yelled, frantic.

"No," Parker says, blinking at her before laying her head down on the floor. "I wanna fly."

Sophie's heart is racing a million miles an hour. But she kneels down; trying to stay calm and tries with everything to sound like everything was okay, normal. "Parker," she tries, "Do you want to play a game?"

"Yessss," Parker says, all smiles. She tries to move, but can't very well. "I seem to be broken though." She says it likes it's an interesting fact, and not one of the scariest moments in Sophie's whole life.

"Alright, but we have to play it in the bathroom, so I'm gonna pick you up and bring you over there… okay?" Sophie coaxed gently, putting her hands under Parker's frail body. Parker nods kind of sleepily and Sophie knows she has to hurry. Getting to her feet, almost stumbling because hell, she wasn't that strong, she carries Parker into her bathroom.

She set Parker down near the toilet, and Parker lays her head on the toilet bowl. "Sleepy," she mumbles.

"No no… no sleeping yet," Sophie tells her, slapping her cheek a couple times. Parker's eyes flutter open. "There, good girl. Sit up for me, okay? Come on Parker…" Sophie coaxes, and wraps and arm around her. Parker's head falls back against her shoulder and Sophie shrugs it off of her so Parker's head hangs over the toilet bowl.

"This is gonna suck," Sophie mumbles before opening Parker's mouth and sliding two of her fingers deep down her throat.

Parker gags once, twice, then hurls into the toilet, getting some of the bile on Sophie's fingers. Sophie just wipes it on her shirt as Parker chokes, muttering complaints, but Sophie isn't done. She's making sure it's all out of her system.

"No!" Parker yells, and tries to swat at her but still can't move very well. "Gross!"

"One more time," Sophie tells her, and forces open Parker's mouth again. She can feel Parker's throat spasm around her fingers and Parker makes this disgusting noise before she vomits into the toilet again.

Then she passed out… and then Sophie cries, not being able to stop it.

* * * * *

Sophie stayed the night, not wanting to leave her. So many questions were invading her mind, so many questions that didn't have answers. Like why Parker kept the pills she was convinced were poison, why she took that many of them? Why? Just… fucking _why?_ Why did she have to do that? Didn't she understand what could happen?!

She couldn't sleep.

She just kept looking at Parker, passed out on the bed next to her, curled into a ball and snoring lightly. Sophie had stripped her of all but her undergarments due to her throwing up a bit on herself, and Sophie had to borrow some of Parker's clothes due to that problem too.

"Sophie?" Parker mumbled sleepily, moving a bit as if to find her.

"Yeah? I'm here," Sophie says anxiously, rolling over to face her and putting one of her hands on Parker's. But Parker's still lightly snoring… she just said Sophie's name in her sleep.

Finally Sophie curls into bed next to her, wrapping the covers around both of them, and kisses the top of Parker's head softly before drifting off to sleep.

Sophie awoke to the sound of groaning and then the bed moving a lot as Parker flops back down on it face first. Sophie sat up quickly, looking down at her. She was spread eagle on the bedspread and she mumbled. "Hurts… moving."

"Then why did you get up?" Sophie asked her, the annoyance finally seeping into her voice. The anger that Parker had scared her half to death.

"Brush… my teeth," Parker mumbled, then tried to move again and winced. "Ow…"

"Serves you right," Sophie told her in a bit of a huff, and Parker turns her head to look at her. "You're gonna be like that all day," Sophie told her. "What happens when you overdose on Welbutrin. It messes with your muscles… idiot."

"You're pleasant this morning," Parker replies sarcastically, and crawls slowly up the bed to collapse on to a pillow.

But Sophie's angry. Very angry. "How could you do that?!" she explodes, looking at her like she was crazy. _"Why_ did you do that?!"

"I don't know," Parker told her, turning her face so she didn't have to look at Sophie anymore.

"Liar," Sophie said, narrowing her eyes. "Why did you do that, Parker?"

"I had a headache," Parker mumbled into her pillow.

"They're anti-depressants, not aspirin!" Sophie yelled, and Parker winces from how loud it is.

"Well I have a headache now, be quiet," she tells her.

"Oh, right, cause I'm gonna cater to the woman who stupidly tried to_ kill herself_ last night, because you so _deserve_ it," Sophie spat.

"I didn't try to kill myself," Parker tells her.

"Then why? You thought taking that many pills would just get you high? Even I know you're not that stupid," Sophie says.

"Well it wasn't in the original plan," Parker defends, then buries her face into the pillow. She doesn't want to have this conversation. "Accident," she mumbles into it.

"Parker…" Sophie says, her voice getting quieter, more desperate. "Why?"

"Just thought it'd be fun… to be all happy," Parker tells her, still mumbling into the pillow. Sophie rolls her eyes and grabs onto Parker's arm to roll her over on to her back, much to Parker's protests.

"Ow," she complains.

"You scared me half to death last night, what would have happened if I didn't come upstairs with you?" Sophie asks, looking down at her. Her voice cracked a little from that question.

"I dunno," Parker says, and shrugs. She blinks and squints, not liking the light.

"You could have died…" Sophie says, emotion now heavy in her voice. She didn't want to cry again, but it looked like she wasn't going to have a say in the matter.

"I'm not in therapy anymore, I don't wanna talk about this," Parker tells her, and tries to roll over, but Sophie isn't going to let that happen. They were gonna have this conversation. She gets on top of Parker and straddles her waist, looking down at her seriously.

"We're talking about this."

"Get off of me, Sophie," Parker says, and tries to push her off of her but all her muscles hurt so much that she can't. She sighs in defeat and just glares at her.

"You scared me," Sophie told her softly.

"Sorry," Parker said, but didn't sound it, and she even rolled her eyes a bit… so Sophie slaps her.

"HEY!" Parker yells, but can't move to retaliate. She turns her face though and rubs her cheeks against the pillow – it stings.

"You selfish bitch," Sophie spits out at her, glaring at her with all the anger she has in her. "You didn't even think about what it would do to the rest of us!"

"We're not friends!" Parker yells at her. "We're not anything! We're just… all together! That's it! So just… get off of me!"

"No," Sophie told her.

"Sophie!" Parker yells, trying to wiggle out underneath her. "Leave me alone!"

"No!" Sophie yells, and pins her arms down next to her. "No, Parker! I won't just leave you alone! Did you do this because we kissed? I need to know!"

"What? Full of yourself, much?" Parker asks, and tries to get her hands out of Sophie's grip, but it's starting to hurt too much, all the moving, so she just makes a really frustrated noise.

"I need to know!" Sophie tells her.

"NO! Not… really. No," Parker says, and that makes Sophie let go of her. She stares down at her; eyes misted over and looks like Parker just screamed yes.

"Not _really?" _she asks in a small voice.

"It's not because of you," Parker says. "I was just confused and Marcy told me if I take a lot of my meds they'll make me happy and things will make sense, so I did after… that. But I took too much this time, I guess. I didn't know how strong they were."

"You listened to Marcy?!" Sophie screeches, making Parker wince again at how loud it is.

"Just leave me alone, Sophie," Parker says, wanting to be done with this entire thing.

"Fine, whatever," Sophie said, getting up off of her. "Do what you want with your life, for all I care. You don't think about anyone else but yourself anyway, apparently."

"What?!" Parker yelled, pissed at being accused of that, but Sophie's gone, out of her bedroom door, slamming in behind her.

She was done with the conversation too.

* * * * *

When Parker woke up the next morning, she could finally move without it hurting. She carried herself across her bedroom, and opened the door to go into the living room. She rubbed her eyes and walked sleepily into her kitchen to get some breakfast… when she stopped. She turned to her right after thinking she saw something in the corner of her eye and noticed Sophie, fast asleep on her couch.

"Uh…" Parker says, confused. Didn't Sophie leave yesterday morning? She blinked, wondering if she was possibly hallucinating. She went over to her slowly, almost creeping up to her, trying not to wake her up. But then she touched Sophie's arm almost barely, and then let out a scream as suddenly Sophie was awake, grabbing her thigh and pulling her forward so she fell right on top of her.

Sophie screamed too. That was not how she wanted to wake up this morning.

"Parker??" she asks sleepily, trying to figure out if it was really her. "What are you doing here?" she mumbles.

"This is my house," Parker says, tangled up on Sophie on the couch. She tries to get up, though doesn't try really hard, and then just gives up. Laying on Sophie wasn't so bad.

"What? Oh… right," Sophie says, trying to be awake and alert to the world. "Thought you were mad at me."

"Thought _you_ were mad at_ me_," Parker says, pointing out that she was the one that did most of the yelling yesterday morning.

"I was… I am," Sophie says, still sleepy. "You're an idiot."

"I got that, thank you," Parker says, annoyed. She tries to get up again, but Sophie wraps her arms around her and closes her eyes. Parker's confused.

"No, I'm sleepy," Sophie mumbles.

"You're not gay," Parker reminds her, because this seemed awfully gay right about now. Not that Parker was one to complain, while she was pissed that Sophie screamed at her and kept calling her an idiot… she did still like her. A lot.

"This isn't gay," Sophie tells her softly, though snuggles into her neck.

"Right, sure," Parker says, and gives up and lays her head on her shoulder. "You just like to snuggle with everyone then?"

"We're not snuggling," Sophie protests sleepily. "Just laying."

"I'm on top of you, your have your arms around me," Parker states.

"Parker, will you bloody shut up for once? Really," Sophie tells her seriously, finally opening her eyes to look at her. "If you make me analyze this then… see, too late," Sophie says and sighs as she realizes it was a little bit too intimate. "Get up."

"No, you said you wanted me here. I'm staying," Parker says, not wanting Sophie to get up now. She really should have just shut her mouth way before this.

"Parker…"

"Shut up, Sophie."

Sophie looks annoyed, but shuts up. She was too tired to protest anymore anyway. She just lays back and closes her eyes, and enjoys Parker snuggling up against her, her light breath against her neck. Sophie starts lightly stroking back of Parker's head, running her fingers through her hair. She tried so hard not to analyze all of this… but it was hard.

What was she doing? Why did she even stay the night after she yelled at Parker and told her she could pretty much go die for all she cares?

Because she did care. A lot. She has no idea where it came from.

She doesn't know why she didn't run screaming away from Parker after she kissed her. After Sophie kissed _her._ Parker. She did it. Not the other way around. _She_ kissed Parker.

And why did it have to feel so good?

"Stop thinking," Parker mumbled into her neck, and Sophie opens her eyes in surprise.

"How did you…?"

"You got really tense all of a sudden," Parker explains quietly, eyes still closed as she lies on Sophie. Sophie sighed lightly and Parker continues, "And you stopped running your fingers through my hair. And I liked it. Didn't like when it stopped," Parker mumbled against her neck.

Sophie smiled a bit at that and started running her fingers through the thief's hair again. Parker was catching on to human behavior, or maybe even just her behavior, really quickly. "Why are you doing this to me?" Sophie asks her softly, and Parker opens her eyes to look at her, confused.

"Doing what?"

"Making me… confused," Sophie tells her softly, looking down at her.

"I don't know," Parker says, honestly. "I didn't think I would…. I am? Really?" she shifts a bit to lean on one elbow, propping herself up so she would be the one to look down at Sophie.

"A little, yeah," Sophie admits. She averted her eyes to look at the wall and said, barely above a whisper. "I was so scared that you would never wake up…"

"Sorry," Parker says softly, and this time sounds like she means it. Sophie turns her head to look at her, and Parker brings her lips down to press lightly against hers. Sophie's surprised, almost shocked still, and doesn't move. When they broke, Parker bit her bottom lip and looked away. "Sorry about that too," she mumbled.

"Uh…" Sophie starts, then coughs a bit. "No, it's… it's okay."

Parker still doesn't look at her, and now that Sophie can move she wants to… actually participate. She feels like she missed out on that one due to her shock, and that it really wasn't fair. So she takes two fingers, puts them under Parker's chin and guides her face to her before pressing her own lips against the thief's. Parker parts her lips and Sophie slides her tongue in, tasting Parker again for what seemed like forever. Parker shifts on the couch so she's lying fully on top of her now, and starts kissing her deeper.

After awhile the kiss started to get a little bit… more than that. Parker's breathing heavily against her lips, and Sophie's wriggling underneath her, trying to press her lower body against the younger woman's. Then Parker's lips are on Sophie's neck, and Sophie gasps softly, finding Parker's hand and holding it tightly.

"Parker… we should… um…" Sophie starts, trying to say that they should stop, that she wasn't this into women, but she was finding she was having trouble thinking clearly.

"I don't want to stop," Parker tells her seriously, and sucks lightly on the base of Sophie's neck before her hot bursts of breath were tickling Sophie's ear.

"Yeah… yeah I can see that…" Sophie starts, but is cut off by Parker kissing her again. Sophie's body seems to not be communicating properly with her brain, because her hands are grasping at Parker's nightshirt, starting to pull it up. Her brain keeps saying no, but her body doesn't seem to care. Sophie kisses her back, pushing into her a little bit more as Parker's hand seems to find it's way up her shirt. When Parker touches her breasts Sophie breaks the kiss, laying her head back against the couch heavily and closes her eyes as she lets out a moan.

"God… we shouldn't…" she tries to get out, but it's all incoherent mumbling at this point. Her hands are still working on getting Parker's top off, and when Parker sits up she can finally pull it all the way off of her. "We… oh _god_…" she interrupts herself as Parker's mouth wraps around one of her nipples.

Sophie can't think anymore.

Parker's teasing her nipple lightly with her tongue as he hand starts to wander down Sophie's stomach. Sophie's fingers are looped in Parker's underwear, but she was afraid to pull them down. She didn't want to be the first to do it.

"Do you wanna stop?" Parker asks her breathlessly, but seriously as her hand continues to go lower very very slowly.

"I don't know," Sophie whispers, and pulls Parker's underwear down just the slightest bit. "I don't think so… no."

"Are you sure?" Parker asks her, needing to know. She kisses Sophie's neck softly before whispering in her ear, "I want to make love to you, but I want you to say it's okay…"

The fact that Parker said 'make love' was what made Sophie decide. She had thought with Parker everything would be spontaneous sex and fucking, but Parker wanted to… Parker wanted to…

"Yes," Sophie whispered, and finally pulled her underwear down her thighs. "I want you too…"

Parker smiled against her neck before slipping her fingers underneath Sophie's panties, and pressing against her clit. Sophie gasped and arched her back into her, not knowing just one touch from Parker could set her off so much. She pushed Parker's hips off of her for a moment to slide her hand underneath them so she could touch her too, and when she did and found out how wet Parker really was, both of them moaned.

"God, Parker…" Sophie gasped, spreading her legs as wide as she could for her on the small couch as Parker started rubbing her softly, but firmly at the same time. "Oh my god…"

Parker kissed her again, tongue's fighting their way for dominance as Sophie slid her fingers inside of the thief, making her cry out against her lips. Parker started gasping hard, pushing her hips into Sophie's fingers, her face contorted in pleasure as she whispers, "Tell me this is real…"

"It's real," Sophie tells her breathlessly before moaning hard once Parker's fingers had found their way inside of her. "Parker! Oh shit…" she cried, and her hips started moving with the rhythm.

Parker was panting hard, moaning hard every now and then, before she finally gets the effort to open her eyes and look down at Sophie, who was making the sexiest faces Parker thinks she had ever seen in her life. She was really the most beautiful thing she had ever seen… and she was hers. Even if just in this moment.

"More…" Sophie pants, and Parker slips a third finger inside of her, feeling Sophie clench around her. "More!" Sophie gasps again, needing her to fill her as much as she could.

"I don't know if I… _god Sophie…"_ Parker starts, interrupting herself with a moan as Sophie presses hard again her g spot.

"Please…" Sophie begged, and started speeding up the rhythm of her own fingers inside of Parker.

"God… fuck… okay…" Parker pants out, and tries to fit a forth. It's tight, but Sophie's so wet that it does slide in relatively easily.

"Yes! Oh god, yes!" Sophie cries, and Parker uses her thumb to press against Sophie's clit while she slides in and out of her, making Sophie practically scream. "Oh fuck Parker… please don't stop!"

That was the last thing on Parker's mind.

Parker's panting so hard she can barely breathe, and when Sophie curls her fingers inside of her and presses hard, Parker starts screaming, thrusting her hips into Sophie as hard as she can. She's so lightheaded… so damn high, but she wants to take Sophie with her so she curls her own fingers and presses her thumb hard against the grifter's clit until she feels Sophie tense. The sound of their moans mixed with screams seem to echo through Parker's house, and both women are gasping against each other's lips as they ride out their wave, before suddenly both of them are limp, Parker laying on top of Sophie.

They're both quiet for awhile, eyes closed, just reliving the feeling. Then Parker seemed to get worried, because she started to try to climb off of Sophie, but Sophie stilled her by wrapping her arms around her.

"No," Sophie told her.

"No…?" Parker asked quietly, looking down at her, not knowing what she means.

"No, you're not running away. I'm good, _we're_ good so just… shush and lay back down," Sophie mumbles, still not opening her eyes. She wasn't done with the feeling. Part of her… most of her, wanted the feeling to never end.

Being with Parker was, if she was to be honest with herself, better than being with any man.

Parker called her a painting. Parker made love to her. Parker… is just Parker.

"Really?" Parker asked quietly, vulnerable, and Sophie opens her eyes. She looks at the younger women for a minute before a smile creeps on her face. Brushing back a piece of hair from her face she tells her:

"Really. You're not going anywhere for awhile."

Parker keeps thinking she's gonna wake up from this dream… but she never does. Her whole life might be a dream, but if it is… suddenly it's a really good one.

**THE END**


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